A radio frequency (rf) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is a macroscopic quantum object consisting of a superconducting loop interrupted by a Josephson junction. Superconducting phase quantum bits (qubits) based on rf SQUIDs have been proven to be one of the most promising candidates for building a quantum computer. They exploit the unique resources of quantum superposition and entanglement and are exponentially faster than classical computers in solving certain problems, such as factoring. Compared to other approaches to quantum computing, superconducting phase qubits allow stronger and more flexible inter-qubit coupling and thus are easier to scale up. However, phase qubits couple to the environment and are subject to considerable decoherence. The resulting coherence time (also called decoherence time) is on the order of 100 ns, about two orders of magnitude shorter than that required for fault-tolerant quantum computing. One possible solution is to develop faster quantum gates in phase qubits. In this dissertation, coherent manipulation of multi-partite quantum states via Landau-Zener (LZ) transitions was investigated in a phase qubit, which was coupled to two microscopic two-level systems (TLSs) embedded in the tunnel barrier of the Josephson junction. The qubit chip was measured at temperatures below 30 mK in an ultra-low noise environment with excellent electrical and magnetic filtering and shielding. All parameters of the phase qubit were calibrated independently. The phase qubit's decoherence times have been carefully measured as well. Fast and precise coherent control of the tripartite quantum states has been successfully demonstrated by the observation of the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg (LZS) interference in the coupled qubit-TLS system. Furthermore, it is shown that utilizing LZ transitions to create multi-partite entangled states, such as the W state, is significantly more efficient than conventional methods which require a sequence of single-qubit and two-qubit gates. Hence, coherent manipulation of multi-partite quantum states via LZ transitions is a promising basis for a new family of fast multi-qubit quantum gates.
Theoretical analysis indicates that a spin qubit in a parabolic quantum wire, when driven by a bichromatic field, generates a confinement-tunable non-Abelian synthetic gauge field that gives rise to novel Floquet topological phenomena. In the low-confinement regime, the system exhibits topological Landau-Zener (LZ) transitions, chiral Landau-Zener-St
u¨ckelberg-Majorana (LZSM) interference, and non-Abelian geometric phases around diabolical points. These features enable holonomic quantum computation, as well as unconventional Floquet Bloch oscillations and fractal spectra. In contrast, in the strong confinement regime, narrow avoided crossings significantly suppress cross-coupling, thereby insulating the qubit from multi-photon LZSM interference. Quantitative Floquet-Lindblad analysis shows that the optimized gate times, determined by the biharmonic driving period and non-Abelian parameter-space loops, are sufficiently short to surpass primary environmental decoherence channels. When applied to high-mobility
GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell nanowires, this approach converts spatial drives into robust non-Abelian gauge fields, positioning quantum wire systems as a versatile and scalable platform for fault-tolerant quantum information processing.